The Disappearing Spoon Chapter 15

Chapter 15: An Element as Madness
Summary:
Chapter 15 went into depth when talking about scientists who shared similar mad characteristics. Kean begins by introducing William Crookes. Crookes was a scientist who was very popular when he was in his 30s, all that changed afterwards. His brother had died at sea and it’s believed that that's when he apparently went crazy. He began to create theories about the spirituality and the existence of the dead when he mourned for his brother. Many thought of his work to be silly ideas, but eventually he was able to get away from that type of work and started to work with radioactivity and selenium.


In addition, Kean then continues by mentioning a story of how scientists had found manganese covering shark teeth. Afterwards, the author moves on to discussing about the scientists Pons and Fleischman. They had discovered that palladium was able to take in large amounts of hydrogen when it was in water and electricity. After discovering this, they ran tests; however, their results didn't match up and they still went through with announcing this new power source. Because they went through with announcing this new power source without thorough results, they failed greatly.


Reflection:
I really enjoyed this chapter because it gave me a better understanding of pathological science. I found the story of Crookes really interesting because if I were robe in his place, I would have probably done the same thing since it's hard to lose a precious family member. I was glad that Crookes was able to go back to studying science because in my opinion when he did that, it showed that he had in a way moved on from his brother’s death. The story he gave about the manganese found around shark teeth in the ocean was also very quite interesting to learn about. The stories he told in this chapter really did grab my attention.

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